michael wrote:What really amazes me is how many people think that Splenda is natural and what a great alternative to Nutrasweet it is.

Ah, the power of advertising! If a lot of people think of Splenda as 'natural" (about as natural as some plastics made from soy are!), it's all thanks to their being bombarded with the "tastes like sugar, because it's made from sugar" ads. (Funny, they don't say anything about the chlorine!)

veganpotter wrote:I'm waiting for stevia sodas...not that I'll ever drink them but I'd try. I like flat cola and root beer but have only had one soda in a year(at proper eats in Portland...and it was organic and handmade)...but if they got rid of the high fructose corn syrup(alot of expensive companies have done this) and used stevia while lowering the carbonation I'd probably drink soda more often(maybe one or two a week)

They do exist, but not in regular stores.
I occasionally wil buy a stevia-sweetened soda at the health food store (they have green tea and orange or strawberry).

Thanks for that link. This excerpt from the article is what I find particularly alarming:

METHANOL (AKA WOOD ALCOHOL/POISON) (10% OF ASPARTAME)
Methanol/wood alcohol is a deadly poison. Some people may remember methanol as the poison that has caused some "skid row" alcoholics to end up blind or dead. Methanol is gradually released in the small intestine when the methyl group of aspartame encounter the enzyme chymotrypsin.

The absorption of methanol into the body is sped up considerably when free methanol is ingested. Free methanol is created from aspartame when it is heated to above 86 Fahrenheit (30 Centigrade). This would occur when aspartame-containing product is improperly stored or when it is heated (e.g., as part of a "food" product such as Jello).

Methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde in the body. Formaldehyde is a deadly neurotoxin. An EPA assessment of methanol states that methanol "is considered a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic." The recommend a limit of consumption of 7.8 mg/day. A one-liter (approx. 1 quart) aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol. Heavy users of aspartame-containing products consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily or 32 times the EPA limit.(9)